Grace Wales Bonner

Grace Wales Bonner (born 1992) is a British fashion designer, whose work "addresses the politics of identity, sexuality, and race through projects that delicately balance multinationalism with a sense of personal subjectivity".[1] In 2014 she founded the London-based label Wales Bonner, originally specialising in menswear.[2][3] The recipient of several awards, she was voted number 41 on the Dazed 100 list in 2017.[4]

Emerging Menswear Designer: An innovative and directional designer who is emerging as a growing force in British menswear. WINNER: Grace Wales

Biography

She was born in south London to a white English mother and Jamaican father,[5] and after her parents' separation was brought up between her mother's house in Dulwich and her father's in Stockwell.[6]

Wales Bonner studied at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2014, and winning the L'Oréal Professionnel Talent award for her BA collection "Afrique".[7][8] Subsequent awards she has received include the "Emerging Talent – Menswear" at the 2015 British Fashion Awards, the 2016 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers,[9] and the British Land London emerging design medal in 2018.[5]

In 2019 she curated her debut show, A Time For New Dreams, for the Serpentine Sackler Gallery,[10] seeing it as "a space for meditation and reflection ... to connect with ideas of history and ancestor’s lineage, but it's also very global and open in its approach, so it's more of a place to reflect on how engaged with ideas we are both physically and bodily but also mentally and spiritually."[11][12] The exhibition, which attracted 25,000 visitors, took its name from a collection of essays by Nigerian writer Ben Okri, and included work by several artists (including Chino Amobi, Black Audio Film Collective, David Hammons, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Liz Johnson Artur, Rashid Johnson, Kapwani Kiwanga, Eric N. Mack and Paul Mpagi Sepuya),[10] featuring Okri's words on the wall, as well as footage of African-American writer Ishmael Reed.[13] According to Hans-Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery: "Grace is a fashion designer, but she’s also a thinker, a writer, an editor. She makes connections between different fields, from music to art."[13]

In 2019, Anna Wintour named her as one of the "new, young designers that she's excited about right now" when asked by Rihanna in a special edition of Vogue Magazine's "ASK ANNA".[14]

gollark: No, just normal bees.
gollark: https://i.osmarks.tk/bees.png
gollark: What? No. Bees.
gollark: Bees care not for pathetic human tribalism. Bees are immune to bribery.
gollark: Replace all politicians with incorruptible bees.

References
  1. "Grace Wales Bonner", Grace Wales Bonner & Liz Johnson Artur, Laxart.
  2. "About", Wales Bonner website.
  3. "Grace Wales Bonner", BoF 500.
  4. "Grace Wales Bonner", Dazed100.
  5. Alex Rayner, "Interview: Grace Wales Bonner: 'I'm a fashion designer making art – it could be seen as silly'", The Guardian, 2 February 2019.
  6. "The Wardrobe with Grace Wales Bonner", The Gentlewoman.
  7. "Grace Wales Bonner" at Show Studio.
  8. "Menswear Metaphysics: GRACE WALES BONNER’s Bejeweled Visions", 032c, 22 January 2019 (2014 interview republished).
  9. Sarah Mower, "The Full Story on Grace Wales Bonner From a Vogue Editor Who’s Been Following Her From the Beginning", Vogue, 17 June 2016.
  10. Danielle Wightman-Stone, "Grace Wales Bonner stages first exhibition", FashionUnited, 24 January 2019.
  11. Hikmat Mohammed, "Grace Wales Bonner Brings Her Cultural References to the Serpentine", Elle, 22 January 2019.
  12. "Grace Wales Bonner: A Time for New Dreams", Serpentine Sackler Gallery, 19 January 2019 to 17 March 2019.
  13. Liam Freeman, "Grace Wales Bonner On The Inspiration Behind Her AW19 Collection",Vogue, 17 February 2019.
  14. "Rihanna & Anna Wintour Ask Each Other Questions | Go Ask Anna | Vogue", 9 October 2019.
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